“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Reports just in indicate that he was a Buddhist and learning the Thai language at a Buddhist temple. He was working at a Thai restaurant for free to learn the language better.

As far as I know, this is the first time a Buddhist has done a serial killing in the U.S. (and hopefully the last) and perhaps the first mass shooting by a Buddhist in any non-Buddhist country.

The Dhamma ending age...

"He, the Blessed One, is indeed the Noble Lord, the Perfectly Enlightened One;He is impeccable in conduct and understanding, the Serene One, the Knower of the Worlds;He trains perfectly those who wish to be trained; he is Teacher of gods and men; he is Awake and Holy. "--------------------------------------------"The Dhamma is well-expounded by the Blessed One, Apparent here and now, timeless, encouraging investigation, Leading to liberation, to be experienced individually by the wise. "

This guy obviously had some deep and disturbing issues about himself. Going to a Buddhist temple isn't going to solve that. The guy probably needed some serious therapy and didn't get it and now this. This has become a pretty common occurrence in the US.

He has been compared to Charles Whitman, who had a very similar occurrence happen. His case did not involve any Buddhism, but in his own writing (he wrote a journal) he seemed to indicate that he didn't know at all why he was having such thoughts dominate his mind. It was like someone/something turned on a switch in his head. I'm wondering if this case and autopsy will find something similar with Alexis. Most friends of his spoke well of him, and were apparently shocked of the news yesterday.

Reports just in indicate that he was a Buddhist...(and) this is the first time a Buddhist has done a serial killing in the U.S.

Reading just the one article (above), and not to dissect this too much, I see/saw no indication that he was Buddhist...basically he hung with Thais and meditated a little (for a while)...not too unlike Novak Djokovic when playing Wimbledon...

Digity wrote:I think it said he quit the temple in 2011 and was known to be a heavy drinker, starting at 9:30 am. This guy was no Buddhist...it's just the news people trying to play up an angle.

You can't know, if he was a Buddhist.

He could have taken the Five Precepts each morning.

Not to break them is another deal.

We all do our best, no matter what our Kamma has in store for us.

I do agree with you in general.

But I don't see the precepts as something you can break; they are training-goals, not rules. As with all training we all have a (individual) starting point, in time we improve our skills, sometimes we do worse; but in the long run we aim to be better.

Doshin wrote:I do agree with you in general. But I don't see the precepts as something you can break; they are training-goals, not rules. As with all training we all have a (individual) starting point, in time we improve our skills, sometimes we do worse; but in the long run we aim to be better. _/\_

yes, I see that.

To me, formally 'taking' the precepts comes with or builds up a certain energy. If I have done so, the alertness rises, for when I am about not to behave in harmonious way. It kind of strengthens the 'remindive' factor.

The same, when I behaved unharmonious. Forgiving myself for having done so and not knowing better and 'taking' the training vows again, helps.

In reading the scriptures, there are two kinds of mistakes:One mistake is to cling to the literal text and miss the inner principles.The second mistake is to recognize the principles but not apply them to your own mind, so that you waste time and just make them into causes of entanglement.

I believe he was a Buddhist. From the reports I have read on the news he attended a Thai temple, meditated and chanted with other Buddhists. He was learning the Thai language and according to some reports was already fluent. Who knows, maybe at one point he was considering ordaining in Thailand? Being Buddhist does not (automatically) make one a Buddha, arahant, or even sotapanna. Noble levels come with much effort after many lifetimes. Every Buddhist is at different points on the Path.

It is good to keep the precepts, but how many Buddhists really keep all 5 precepts all the time? I imagine many Buddhists struggle to keep the alcohol abstention precept all the time, violating it for social encounters. And I am sure many Buddhists sometimes tell some white-lies. I am not condoning or approving the breaking of any precepts, just stating the reality.

edit:

I see from J4's link that his interest dropped off a couple of years ago.

Alexis told his Buddhist landlord he wanted to be a monk, but his attendance at temple services slipped from several times a week in 2010 to about once a month in 2011, before largely fading altogether.

I do not see a reason why to discuss the shooter in terms of Buddhism ( other than for journalists to have something to write about ).

People who go on planned shooting sprees are mentally ill. Mentally ill people of all religions do these sort of things. These kind of shootings have nothing to do with anyone's religion and any given religion's rule against murder isn't likely to stop a mentally ill person from killing. Those rules don't even stop mentally healthy people from killing.

In reading the scriptures, there are two kinds of mistakes:One mistake is to cling to the literal text and miss the inner principles.The second mistake is to recognize the principles but not apply them to your own mind, so that you waste time and just make them into causes of entanglement.

Yes of course, this has nothing to do with Buddhism, even if he were still a Buddhist. It has to do with mental health issues and yes also gun control issues (why did a mentally ill person with prior gun related police events have ability to purchase assault weapons very recently). It is just good to discuss to come to these points, that it is not about his religion. There are some who think religion is a factor in some violent crimes (not necessarily anyone here, but someone lurking through the news reports and this forum) and this is clearly not the case in this incident. So it doesn't matter if he was Buddhist or not.

David N. Snyder wrote:Yes of course, this has nothing to do with Buddhism, even if he were still a Buddhist. It has to do with mental health issues and yes also gun control issues (why did a mentally ill person with prior gun related police events have ability to purchase assault weapons very recently). It is just good to discuss to come to these points, that it is not about his religion. There are some who think religion is a factor in some violent crimes (not necessarily anyone here, but someone lurking through the news reports and this forum) and this is clearly not the case in this incident. So it doesn't matter if he was Buddhist or not.

Just a small point to make here: He did not buy the assault rife. He bought a shotgun (still a deadly weapon, and your question is still valid in regards to the shotgun) and then used the shotgun to kill somebody who possessed an assault rifle, then stole the dead man's weapon.